But he does care about the NHL losing revenue . . .

By PETER ADLER
The Cult of Hockey @ The Edmonton JournalWhen you read many players’ (and many readers’) reactions to what’s been going on in the NHL lately, you’ll think there’s no bigger villain in the world than league commissioner Gary Bettman. What with the overwhelming, deafening, even, silence that’s been surrounding the talks about a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its players’ union, the NHLPA, the popular sentiment has it that Bettman is as anti-hockey as a Pakistani (or Indian) cricket aficionado.

One wonders, from time to time, if Bettman loses any sleep over all these accusations, or whether he’s content that “noise” is just a part of the entire business. At least, this lockout has been more civilized than its older brother (2004-2005 version). If you care to remember, that’s when Chris Chelios, then of the Detroit Red Wings, said Bettman should be afraid, very afraid, and not only for his safety but for that of his family, too. That statement left many in shock. Chelios would later withdraw, sort of. He didn’t mean he would cause Bettman and / or his family any harm, but there might be social misfits who might. That was Chelios’s excuse.

Of course, Chelios (quite openly, too) belonged to the more militant part of the NHLPA that would never come to terms with salary caps and any other such paraphernalia of modern times. He was perfectly livid when then-executive director of the NHLPA, Bob Goodenow, resigned shortly after the signing ceremony of the CBA. And Chelios was one of those who disliked Goodenow’s successor, Ted Saskin, so much he helped engineer his firing. Saskin didn’t help his cause, either, when it became known he had no moral issues with reading players’ e-mail exchanges. But he would have been gone with or without the e-mail scandal, anyhow.

All that time it was Bettman’s name that was in the mud, as if it was the commissioner, not the owners, who was running the show.

While not too surprising coming from fans who don’t really know who or what runs the NHL, it is somewhat close to shocking, hearing such accusations from the players whom one would have expected to know better than that.

To simplify it: it is the owners who decide the strategy, that is, the goals they want to achieve, and the most Bettman does in the matter is helping to decide the tactics, that is, ways to achieve the goals set by the owners.

It should be the same on the other side, too: the executive director of the NHLPA should be the person implementing the goals his employers, that is, the players, want to see implemented. Judging by the situation as it has developed so far, one wonders more often than not.

Of course, it’s quite difficult to know with any precision who calls the shots. On either side.

The NHL has imposed a gag order on everybody not called Gary Bettman or his deputy, Bill Daly. One statement out of turn can cost the guilty party a pretty penny. See: Jim Devellano and his $250,000 fine.

On the other hand, we can see and hear a number of players making public statements that give their employer, the NHL, such a bad name one wonders the league hasn’t folded yet. The interesting thing here is that it’s mostly always the same guys who make those pronouncements, and that it is mostly the most recognizable stars who speak out. One never hears the third- or fourth-liners say what and how they really feel.

Besides, the last lockout cost about 200 players, veterans, all, their careers. When the NHL resumed play in 2005, they were out, having lost their last season’s wages. Some of these wages went to millions of dollars, money they would never get back.

How much have we heard from them?

It’s quite intriguing to see how many players, mostly Canadian players, are willing to take one for the team. The last lockout cost Calgary’s Jarome Iginla about $7 million. If the NHL loses this season, that same Iginla stands to lose another similar chunk of money. A bit more, actually, but who’s counting, right? Yet, at least publicly, all you hear Iginla say is platitudes about how he hopes the two sides will reach an agreement sooner rather than later, after all.

Meanwhile, 126 NHL players (and counting) are plying their trade overseas, having taken jobs from the locals in a nice sign of solidarity. Also, 71 NHL players are now skating for their teams’ farm clubs, sending other youngsters down (at least) a notch. The domino effect seems to result in kicking some young players out of professional hockey ranks altogether, no matter how low on the totem pole. Besides, 26 players went back to their junior teams, but they are eligible for call-ups if and when the NHL returns. If Nail Yakupov didn’t bolt for Nizhnekamsk of the Russian KHL, it would have been 27 juniors barring other young players’ entry.

And through all of that all we hear is that Gary Bettman is a villain who deserves nothing better than burn in effigy, if not in reality.

Of course, the NHL is quite correct when it doesn’t engage in a spitting match with the NHLPA, even though some of the Fehr brothers’ statements just shout for clarification, to say it mildly, or denial, to say it bluntly. Spitting matches won’t move any negotiations forward one iota.

So what we end up having is a load after load of defamatory statements that would cost the perpetrators nice sums if brought to court, no negotiations, and the perspective of the league cancelling this season’s Winter Classic in a matter of days. If the Winter Classic goes, can the rest of the season be far behind?

If Gary Bettman loses any sleep, one assumes it would be because of THAT, not because of the names fans and some players call him.

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